Oscraps

Where Are You From and Who Do You Think You Are?

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
If any of you have ever followed the series "Who Do You Think You Are?" you know I'm not being cheeky. I have watched it diligently and now get the British version of the magazine on Kindle Unlimited. Interestingly, there are probably only 3 of the American segments that I have not found a connection to my own families, some of them I would never have guessed even knowing how scrambled and technicolored my family is. It is so much fun! If you have Discovery+ streaming service you can watch it from TLC. At least you can watch the American version. BBC streams the British version. I'm sure others do too. There are many spin-offs in many countries because there are now so many family historians who crave connections to the past. For those who don't know, this show follows the journey of discovery selected celebrities travel to find their roots. It's fascinating. I believe I need to watch BBC's segments to see who I relate to there. My roots in England go to bedrock.

So where did that come from? @Betty Jo commented on my recent LO about my 2nd cousin and noted she had an aunt who had 2nd married a Bray, my cousin's maiden name, and they were from GA. I have verified my Brays to 1859 in Georgia. So I hope she comes to visit and tells us about about her Brays. This is a collateral line for me, but if you are a long time researcher you know, like I do, that you often find out more about your main lines from studying your collateral lines. After all, they are the ones who kept the letters and pictures your ancestors sent. They often have family Bibles that chronicle your lines, too. I would love to hear about your roots and stories you would like to share.

My maternal roots, that I can verify, are Winter from Lincolnshire England to Iowa USA then southern California, Krohn from Sipiory Prussia (now Poland) to Wisconsin then some to Iowa and southern California, Jones from Wales to Pennsylvania on Penn's ships to Virginia then Kentucky and west, Cole from North Carolina to Tennessee to Arkansas. Paternal lines are Deburger and Daubenheyer from Pennsylvania to Indiana and west (they are, unverified, from Sarbrucken in Alsace-Lorraine, a city sometimes German and sometimes French so they just claim to be Sarbruckeners!), Webb from England to Jamestown in 1621 to Georgia then Alabama and west, Nix I am about certain from Virginia to South Carolina to Georgia then west, Head followed the same path, Wood (my maiden name) I can get no further back than Alabama on the 1830 census although Handy Wood, my 2x great grandfather, always showed born North Carolina about 1804 on census returns.

We are mostly English, Welsh, and German Prussian.

So where are you from and Who Do You Think You Are?

 
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Betty Jo

♥ Lovin' the O ♥
CHEERY O
Susan, I wrote you privately about my Aunt. By the way, before she was a Bray, she was married to a Webb, which I also see in your family line.

I honestly haven't researched my family's history, so I can't answer your question with any kind of real knowledge. However, you have definitely gotten my interest and I just may have to delve into this. :)
 

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
Susan, I wrote you privately about my Aunt. By the way, before she was a Bray, she was married to a Webb, which I also see in your family line.

I honestly haven't researched my family's history, so I can't answer your question with any kind of real knowledge. However, you have definitely gotten my interest and I just may have to delve into this. :)
Oh my - how amazing is that? If that name tracks back to early VA we have a match!
 

Cherylndesigns

I'm in The Zone ~ The "O" Zone
CHEERY O
I've watched a few of these American shows. I was fascinated by Six Degrees of Separation, too. We
re all so closely connected and separated by "six degrees". My biggest disappointment was thinking my whole life that my grandfather was a Cherokee Indian - he looked like he was. Sadly, I've never been able to prove it and a lot of people believed that they were Native American - kind of a passed down story. I think, looking back, he just wanted to be and it probably seemed "exotic" to him. Although he was quite a horse wrangler as well as a wrangler of other things. Haha He bought and sold lost of things and I remember going to auctions with him and wondering how the auctioneers could talk that fast that and he said never to hold up my hand, even to scratch my nose.

My paternal side is English/Scotch Irish - mostly English and my sister was able to go through a castle that was supposedly in our family generations ago. My mom always said she was French/American Indian. Of course, we found out that was hearsay. My maternal grandmother was a McIntyre which is definitely Irish.

My husband's genealogy was much easier to track - his father was carried over at 6 months old and came through Ellis Island from The Netherlands. We've connected with a few long lost relatives over the years who still live there. His father always spoke fluent Dutch because the whole family went to Holland, Michigan and they always spoke Dutch.
 

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
I've watched a few of these American shows. I was fascinated by Six Degrees of Separation, too. We
re all so closely connected and separated by "six degrees". My biggest disappointment was thinking my whole life that my grandfather was a Cherokee Indian - he looked like he was. Sadly, I've never been able to prove it and a lot of people believed that they were Native American - kind of a passed down story. I think, looking back, he just wanted to be and it probably seemed "exotic" to him. Although he was quite a horse wrangler as well as a wrangler of other things. Haha He bought and sold lost of things and I remember going to auctions with him and wondering how the auctioneers could talk that fast that and he said never to hold up my hand, even to scratch my nose.

My paternal side is English/Scotch Irish - mostly English and my sister was able to go through a castle that was supposedly in our family generations ago. My mom always said she was French/American Indian. Of course, we found out that was hearsay. My maternal grandmother was a McIntyre which is definitely Irish.

My husband's genealogy was much easier to track - his father was carried over at 6 months old and came through Ellis Island from The Netherlands. We've connected with a few long lost relatives over the years who still live there. His father always spoke fluent Dutch because the whole family went to Holland, Michigan and they always spoke Dutch.
Hmmm, my specialty is Cherokee research. There is likely a kernel of truth there. Why don't you tell us about your grandfather. Can you get me back to the 1930 census with that line? I have copies of all the rolls and much more. When we lived in Oklahoma I was in Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capitol, 6-8 times a year sometimes more. I LOVE the Cherokee people! They are warm, loving, and full of joy. There is always laughter around them. Let's see what shakes out.

Your maternal line could be French and Indian. McIntyre is also a Scottish surname and the Scots allied with France, sent their noble and royal children to foster at the French court. Mary Queen of Scots was sent to France and engaged to the Dauphin at age 9. More than a little possible. Plenty of French traders and colonists married American Indians, but more to Canadian. So we can look at that, too. I'm not as strong on the norther peoples, but I'm willing to try and have access.
 

tanteva

Mistress of Mayhem
It's a blessing to be Swedish when it comes to genealogy. Our church records are amazing. Followed most of my lines to the late 1600s. Some even further, since I'm lucky enough to have clergy & noble men on one lineage (and the records for them were seen as "more important"). I have roots in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia & Germany.
 

LSlycord

Well-Known Member
I haven't watched these shows but I am adding it to my list for summer time pleasure. Who am I? Well Ancestry.com gives me the following breakdown: Scotland 49%, England & Northwestern Europe 32%, Wales 8%, Sweden & Denmark 4%, Ireland 4% and Germanic Europe 3%. 23 and me tells me that I am 89.4% British and Irish 10.3% French and Germanic and .2% Greek and Balkan.

I'm pretty confident that I am pretty darned British. Most of my ancestors have been in the US for a long time...at least through the 1800's. I need to dig further...it is so much easier than it was when I started this stuff. We lived in Overland Park, KS in the 90's and I spent many a Saturday afternoon in Independence at their genealogy library scrolling through rolls of microfilm. The discovery was exciting then. But it is much easier to take a look at the census rolls from my computer. LOL

My paternal line is Noel and McCartt and my maternal line is Johnson and Carver.
 

faerywings

The Loopy-O
CHEERY O
My lineage would be pretty straightforward if I ever figured out how to do it. This is my updated ethnicity from Ancestry-- the majority of my family is from Southern Italy specifically the Avellino area. My uncle -- many years ago- took a trip and found the village where my grandfather was born. There are very few Iantoscas in the US (around NYC/NJ/Boston) that aren't somehow related. In the diagram, my mom is Parent #1- she has a family line that was from Northern Italy. My kids could very easily see who was Parent 1 and Parent 2 based on the Bright green they got from em and the multitude of colors they got from their Scottish/Irish/English/German/French dad :D
View attachment 372691
1653996691619.png
 

Cherylndesigns

I'm in The Zone ~ The "O" Zone
CHEERY O
Hmmm, my specialty is Cherokee research. There is likely a kernel of truth there. Why don't you tell us about your grandfather. Can you get me back to the 1930 census with that line? I have copies of all the rolls and much more. When we lived in Oklahoma I was in Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capitol, 6-8 times a year sometimes more. I LOVE the Cherokee people! They are warm, loving, and full of joy. There is always laughter around them. Let's see what shakes out.

Your maternal line could be French and Indian. McIntyre is also a Scottish surname and the Scots allied with France, sent their noble and royal children to foster at the French court. Mary Queen of Scots was sent to France and engaged to the Dauphin at age 9. More than a little possible. Plenty of French traders and colonists married American Indians, but more to Canadian. So we can look at that, too. I'm not as strong on the norther peoples, but I'm willing to try and have access.
That would be amazing, Susan!! I have those records around here somewhere. I'm extremely disappointed that I have no proof now because we live among the Cherokee people. We're practically in The Cherokee Nation. My son-in-law is Cherokee. I'll see if I can get that information for you. That would be wonderful!!! I love the Cherokee people, too. Living among them has been such a thrill. When we first came here, we were walking downtown and a native woman crossed the street to see what my t shirt had on it. My granddaughter had designed it for me and it has a great big arrow with feathers hanging on it and it says "Blessed Cici". She just went on and on about my shirt and told me I was indeed blessed.
 

taxed4ever

Administrator Crazy about the "O"
CHEERY O
My DNA profile shows me that I am 57% England and North Western Europe, 38% Scotland and 5% Sweden and Denmark. I have watched many of the "who do you think you are" shows I find them very interesting and entertaining!
 

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
My DNA profile shows me that I am 57% England and North Western Europe, 38% Scotland and 5% Sweden and Denmark. I have watched many of the "who do you think you are" shows I find them very interesting and entertaining!
I haven't had mine done yet. I keep hoping my brother will spring for the entire set - autosomal, yDna and mtDna. The last 2 would cover all the bases for us getting both the male and female line. But Skip's mtDNA is not the same as his son's (who gets his mother's mtDNA) but his Y would bust down some walls I'm sure and maybe prove my theory. My cousin Trudy, not to be confused with our O family Trudy has done hers but her great grandmother and mine are not the same. Still the autosmal can lead to fabulous discoveries. Maybe this Christmas I can treat myself.
 

scrap-genie

Well-Known Member
I haven't watched Who Do You Think You Are for a few years, but try to never miss the PBS program Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I've also watched a bit of the BYU TV show Relative Race. It was fun in a PBS episode to see them zooming in on a map to the Sicilian town of Alimena, the home of my sister's in-laws. I'm another with Scot/English/Irish/NW Europe ancestry, my immigrants arriving 1620-1807 as far as I know.

Cheryl @Cherylndesigns and Susan @Susan - s3js the American story of the ancestral Cherokee princess/other relative is very common and most often false. But not always, of course. Hope it turns out for you, Cheryl. DNA testing could sure point it out too.

Susan, your brother can only do the whole thing at FamilyTreeDNA but you can do autosomal at AncestryDNA or 23 and Me which have much larger test groups. And it's best to test as many relatives as possible if you're really looking for help through matches and not just the paternal line. Better prices are out there when they do sales.
 

mcurtt

Well-Known Member
I had my DNA done years ago for medical reasons over at Ancestry. But I did find out where I came from: 92% Polish (no surprise there), 2% Irish, 6% northern Russia, Finish. The last 8% surprised me.

And I wish we had PBS. The nearest station is 60 miles away. We would get it when the signal was analog, but when they changed it to digital, we lost it. We've never owned cable...
 

LSlycord

Well-Known Member
I had my DNA done years ago for medical reasons over at Ancestry. But I did find out where I came from: 92% Polish (no surprise there), 2% Irish, 6% northern Russia, Finish. The last 8% surprised me.

And I wish we had PBS. The nearest station is 60 miles away. We would get it when the signal was analog, but when they changed it to digital, we lost it. We've never owned cable...
I have a lot of McCartts in my line. Every time that I see your name, I think of that line.
 

mcurtt

Well-Known Member
I have a lot of McCartts in my line. Every time that I see your name, I think of that line.
Actually, the M stands for Marilyn. Curtt is the first five letters of my last name (my husband's name). It's 10 characters in length. I have been mcurtt since the 1990's. Back then, I was being signed up for an email account for my employer. It only allowed 6 characters for the prefix of the account. I went with the first letter of my first name and the first 5 letters of my last name. But thanks, feel free to think of me whenever you see McCartt. :)

DH is a mix of Swedish, English, German, Hungarian, etc. etc. My own Heinz 57.
 

ClaireG

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
I think it's all super fascinating, my momma is the lineage queen. BUT I do have a fun one for you. My married surname is Grantham and my husband's family were originally from Germany and relocated to England, they decided that their name wasn't easy for the English and changed it. BUT when we were getting married I invited the family that I had been an au-pair for in Germany many years ago and my husband told them that his family had originally been Guterbochs. Which caused much laughter - which we didn't understand. So even though I speak German, I am not familiar with 'old' German and there have been some changes, so 'Guterboch' translates - super loosely as Grand Ham.. so now we can see how they got to Grantham, which we had never understood! :p
 

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
I think it's all super fascinating, my momma is the lineage queen. BUT I do have a fun one for you. My married surname is Grantham and my husband's family were originally from Germany and relocated to England, they decided that their name wasn't easy for the English and changed it. BUT when we were getting married I invited the family that I had been an au-pair for in Germany many years ago and my husband told them that his family had originally been Guterbochs. Which caused much laughter - which we didn't understand. So even though I speak German, I am not familiar with 'old' German and there have been some changes, so 'Guterboch' translates - super loosely as Grand Ham.. so now we can see how they got to Grantham, which we had never understood! :p
What a great story, Claire! It's so fun to discover things like this and it really opens up mew research avenues - and new family!
 

Robloz55

Well-Known Member
My DNA says I am 75% English, Irish, Scottish and 20% Scandinavian. Since I know we have one branch that comes from the Orkney isles, I am assuming that the Scandinavian ancestry is actually Viking!!

Otherwise my family were mostly Ag-Labs in the west country of England. I love the west country. Love their culture, and laissez faire laid back attitude. Cornwall, Devon and Somerset - my 3 most favourite counties to research!! I have tons of records from those 3 counties.
 

Amandajk

Holy Nomad
SUSAN, @Susan - s3js said: "
Hmmm, my specialty is Cherokee research. There is likely a kernel of truth there. Why don't you tell us about your grandfather. Can you get me back to the 1930 census with that line? I have copies of all the rolls and much more. When we lived in Oklahoma I was in Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capitol, 6-8 times a year sometimes more. I LOVE the Cherokee people! They are warm, loving, and full of joy. There is always laughter around them."
That's great! My husband's paternal grandmother was full Cherokee. Her name was Bessie Minton. Unfortunately her parents, Grant Minton and Sarah Fox did NOT want that to be known so he gave "English" names and did not register her as Cherokee on her birth certificate. They were among the Eastern Band of Cherokees (Kentucky) that hid from the govt. during the "resettlement". :mad: We are in process of trying to prove the lineage- but "it aint easy" with these facts. Several in his family ( his biological family) are working on it. We are going to Cherokee NC next month and hope to gain some help. They ARE really helpful and joyful people- you are so right about that.
His other side is McIntosh/ Riley. So no doubt about those roots, ha.
Me, I am Scot, English, Viking, and German Jew. Some tough strands in that weave, haha.
 

Susan - s3js

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
SUSAN, @Susan - s3js said: "
Hmmm, my specialty is Cherokee research. There is likely a kernel of truth there. Why don't you tell us about your grandfather. Can you get me back to the 1930 census with that line? I have copies of all the rolls and much more. When we lived in Oklahoma I was in Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capitol, 6-8 times a year sometimes more. I LOVE the Cherokee people! They are warm, loving, and full of joy. There is always laughter around them."
That's great! My husband's paternal grandmother was full Cherokee. Her name was Bessie Minton. Unfortunately her parents, Grant Minton and Sarah Fox did NOT want that to be known so he gave "English" names and did not register her as Cherokee on her birth certificate. They were among the Eastern Band of Cherokees (Kentucky) that hid from the govt. during the "resettlement". :mad: We are in process of trying to prove the lineage- but "it aint easy" with these facts. Several in his family ( his biological family) are working on it. We are going to Cherokee NC next month and hope to gain some help. They ARE really helpful and joyful people- you are so right about that.
His other side is McIntosh/ Riley. So no doubt about those roots, ha.
Me, I am Scot, English, Viking, and German Jew. Some tough strands in that weave, haha.
Hi, @Amandajk ! Eastern Band is much harder than Cherokee Nation in OK. They also only allow you to be a card carrying member on just 2 occasions - birth and when you turn 21 (unless that last has been changed) Doesn't make you less Cherokee just not card carrying. I recognize the Minton name in both Nations and they are all likely kin. I'd love to take a crack at it for you.

McIntosh and Riley are both good Cherokee names. I have a lot of research on both names because I proved out a cousin's son in law's heritage. Both names come from traders in the 18th century. They had to have a Cherokee wife to trade. Many had both a white and a Cherokee family and they knew about each other. Go figure, eh?
 

Amandajk

Holy Nomad
Hi, @Amandajk ! Eastern Band is much harder than Cherokee Nation in OK. They also only allow you to be a card carrying member on just 2 occasions - birth and when you turn 21 (unless that last has been changed) Doesn't make you less Cherokee just not card carrying. I recognize the Minton name in both Nations and they are all likely kin. I'd love to take a crack at it for you.

McIntosh and Riley are both good Cherokee names. I have a lot of research on both names because I proved out a cousin's son in law's heritage. Both names come from traders in the 18th century. They had to have a Cherokee wife to trade. Many had both a white and a Cherokee family and they knew about each other. Go figure, eh?
Wow. Never would have guessed the Irish/Scot names were connected to Cherokee apart from his grandfather. We did recently learn that his mother's mother was part Cherokee. That is where McIntosh comes in. They are still researching to determine the "degree". Yes, Eastern band is more complicated. Considering their history and bend to preservation, I get it. We are working with Five Tribes as well. If you would like to dig, feel free!!!
 

LSlycord

Well-Known Member
Watching Who Do You Think You Are with Mandy Moore. I'm feeling kind of jealous of the adventure she had finding out about her g-g grandmother. I need to figure out what I want to search next. I am fortunate that I can get back to knowledge of all of my great-grandparents. I have photos of each of them. And I have information about some of my second g-g grandparents as well. This has me inspired again to dig in deeper.
 
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